Ducks wary of another letdown after beating Chicago

The Chicago Blackhawks' Dave Bolland right, battles the Ducks' Daniel Winnik left, for the puck during the third period on Friday in Chicago. PAUL BEATY, AP

COLUMBUS, Ohio – An emotional, late-game victory over Chicago was what snapped the Ducks out of their first losing streak that came after an emotional late-game triumph over Chicago.

Now comes the hard part. Will the Ducks avoid the kind of letdown that came after beating the Blackhawks the last time?

The unyielding schedule isn't providing any breaks for another swoon. Next up is the Columbus Blue Jackets, a mostly stumbling expansion franchise that is starting to find solid footing.

The Blue Jackets used a recent 8-0-3 stretch to squeeze into the mix for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. They also represent the 20th game in a 36-day stretch for the Ducks.

In between their two victories over the Blackhawks, the Ducks lost four in a row – two each to Detroit and San Jose. The persistence and attention to detail that has defined them was often absent because of how much was invested against Chicago.

Has anything been learned from the experience?

"I don't know until it happens but I got to believe that in life, you learn by your mistakes," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Or you should hope to learn by your mistakes. We know that this is what happened last week and then we went for a slide by not playing as well, not getting to the emotional level, I think, that we had to get to play other games.

"Hopefully we can change that. It's not like we're playing this pee-wee team. These guys have lost one game in regulation in the last month."

Many things returned to form in the Ducks' 2-1 victory Friday that pulled them to within three points of the West-leading Blackhawks. Most notably, the defense turned in a strong effort after being victimized during the bad stretch.

Francois Beauchemin assisted on both goals and his partner, Sheldon Souray, delivered the winner with 2:08 remaining. Cam Fowler continued to play effective defense, while Luca Sbisa and Ben Lovejoy each logged 18-plus minutes and combined for seven hits.

The most encouraging sign was a strong game by Bryan Allen, whose play has been up and down in his first season as a Duck. Allen played in three of the four losses and was a combined minus-7, including being on the ice for six of seven goals against in one stretch.

Allen responded by playing more than 18 minutes against Chicago and being credited with four hits and two blocked shots while displaying poise with the puck in the defensive zone.

"Hockey's funny," he said. "It comes and goes and has its up and downs. And you can't be too focused on a couple of games you played bad. It's going to happen. I think it's more important how you respond and react to those situations.

"It's hard. And it was one of those situations where it seemed like for a couple of games, everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong."

The Ducks also have Toni Lydman in reserve and Allen seemed like an easy candidate to come out of the lineup after the rough outings against Detroit and San Jose. Instead, Boudreau stuck with him and then told him how good he was.

"By his own standards, the two previous games weren't very good," Boudreau said. "And we talked about it. He's a professional who's played a long time. You know that's not going to happen forever.

"He picked a great time to play (well) against a very fast team, the way he played last night."

The Ducks hope they're back to what they accomplished over the first 29 games of the season and that the four defeats following the Chicago victory at home become a distant memory.

"We were waiting for that for a long time to see where we are," Teemu Selanne said. "And then when we won that game, it was maybe the first step backwards because we thought we were better than we really are.

"Satisfaction is your worst enemy in this league. You just have to be even keel, win or lose. You can't really get down on yourself or not too high. I think that's what happened for us."

The Chicago Blackhawks' Dave Bolland right, battles the Ducks' Daniel Winnik left, for the puck during the third period on Friday in Chicago. PAUL BEATY, AP
Chicago's Bryan Bickell, left, moves the puck against the Ducks' close-checking Cam Fowler on Friday in Chicago. PAUL BEATY, AP

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